diff --git a/parquet-hadoop/src/main/java/org/apache/parquet/hadoop/metadata/ColumnChunkMetaData.java b/parquet-hadoop/src/main/java/org/apache/parquet/hadoop/metadata/ColumnChunkMetaData.java
index 4ba52dec2c..70d06762a0 100644
--- a/parquet-hadoop/src/main/java/org/apache/parquet/hadoop/metadata/ColumnChunkMetaData.java
+++ b/parquet-hadoop/src/main/java/org/apache/parquet/hadoop/metadata/ColumnChunkMetaData.java
@@ -824,7 +824,10 @@ protected void decryptIfNeeded() {
     if (decrypted) return;
 
     if (null == fileDecryptor) {
-      throw new ParquetCryptoRuntimeException(path + ". Null File Decryptor");
+      throw new ParquetCryptoRuntimeException(
+          "Column '" + path + "' is encrypted but no decryption properties were provided. "
+              + "Please provide FileDecryptionProperties when reading the file using ParquetReader.builder() "
+              + "or ParquetFileReader.open() methods.");
     }
 
     // Decrypt the ColumnMetaData